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The fourth and final one-day international between India and the West Indies was a complete washout as only seven and a half overs of play were possible before the heavens opened and torrential rain brought an early end to India's mini tour of the Caribbean.
India have now won five consecutive one-day series on the trot, including two over the Lankans, a 5-0 demolition of England and an entertaining 3-1 win over New Zealand away from home. The national team finally head home after an excessively long summer of cricket, and get a well deserved two month vacation before the Champions Trophy in September. The West Indies meanwhile entertain Bangladesh in a two test, three ODI and one T20 three week s eries, before they too get a month off from international commitments.
Earlier today, Mahendra Singh Dhoni won his fourth consecutive toss of the series and decided to take advantage of the overcast conditions, offering the hosts first use of the pitch. As soon as the toss was completed the rain descended on St Lucia, and delayed the start by 25 minutes resulting in a 49-over a side contest (or so they thought).
When the match finally did get underway, Chris Gayle's poor luck with the toss was brought into the middle of the pitch as the tall-opener got a thick outside edge on Ishant Sharma's second delivery and the West Indies registered 1 in the wickets column before a run was scored.
Sharma and Nehra bowled 7.3 good overs between them as Runako Morton (12*) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (12*) took the home side through to 27, before the rain gods took objection to a cricket match being played in their presence and decided to call an end to the day's play.
A useful outing for India, as the side would have done their self confidence no harm at all after the drubbing they took in the T20 World Cup. Ashish Nehra showed his return to form in the IPL can be translated into good performances for India as the fast bowler topped the wicket taking charts with 6 sticks, and Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik all had good series with the bat.
However, the series probably left a lot of questions unanswered as well, as youngsters Ravindra Jadeja and Rohit Sharma both performed really poorly ending with single digit averages in the series. Gautam Gambhir too seems to find himself in the middle of a batting slump, and the issue of the support seem attack continue to be a concern as Ishant Sharma and RP Singh both went for over 6 an over in the 29 overs they bowled between them.
Read about the third ODI, second ODI, the first ODI
File Photograph: ICC T20 World Cup
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- 20/07/2009 16:26 - Champions Trophy Match Schedule announced
- 14/07/2009 22:21 - World Cup Captains speak on epic night
- 06/07/2009 19:19 - Dhoni-Yuvraj top ICC Batting Charts
